A 15-year-old boy radicalized by far-right ideology has been charged with criminal association with a terrorist enterprise over an alleged plot to carry out an attack on his former high school, the French anti-terrorism prosecutor’s office confirmed.
Attack Said to Target Students Indiscriminately
According to a source close to the investigation, the teenager was planning a “particularly well-prepared” attack “indiscriminately targeting” students at the Lyon school from which he had been expelled. The suspect had not set a date for the assault but had already assembled the equipment needed to carry it out, the source told AFP.
Investigators recovered a bag containing two knives, military-style clothing and a chain intended to barricade the school’s doors. RMC reported that the targeted institution is located in Lyon.
Arrest Follows Snapchat Conversations
The minor was arrested in the Rhône department by the anti-terrorism sub-directorate, following an investigation opened on September 15 by the Lyon prosecutor’s office and later taken over by the national anti-terrorism prosecutor’s office (PNAT).
The transfer of the case was justified in part by evidence found on the teenager’s phone. In conversations on Snapchat, the suspect appeared to have informed other users of his intentions and received encouragement, according to investigators.
Fascination With Mass Shootings
A source close to the case said the youth displayed a “fascination with mass killings.” Investigators found a notebook cataloguing mass shootings in the United States and their death tolls, according to Le Monde. References to Quentin Deranque, a Lyon identitarian activist who was beaten to death in February by far-left militants, were also discovered in his bedroom.
The suspect had been out of school since his expulsion earlier in the year. He was taken into custody as early as May after posting online messages expressing hatred toward certain minorities and calling for violent action.
Provisional Detention Requested
Following questioning, the teenager was charged with participating in an individual terrorist enterprise and placed under judicial supervision. The PNAT requested that he be held in provisional detention.
The judicial supervision order requires him to comply with the conditions of an educational placement, undergo monitoring by a psychologist or psychiatrist, and refrain from possessing any weapon.
His lawyer, Eliott Amzallag, told AFP he wished to stress “the imperative need for educational services to work with this young man and to support him calmly in his reconstruction while the judicial investigation continues.”
